1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a zoom lens barrel, and particularly to a focusing system therefor, and more particularly to a so-called inner focusing or rear focusing system in which focusing is effected by the movement of a lens unit other than the front lens unit on the object side.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there have been proposed various other focusing systems than the front focusing system to achieve the compactness, high performance and further, high zoom ratio of zoom lenses.
Generally, however, where the other focusing systems than the front focusing system are adopted, the amount of axial movement varies with a variation in focal length, and this has led to the disadvantage that so-called manual focusing becomes impossible. Also in the front focusing system, zoom lenses of which the total length varies with focal length pose a similar problem that the amount of axial movement for focusing varies.
So, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 63-163808 has proposed a method of utilizing the locus of a focusing lens unit moving during zooming to thereby make so-called manual focusing possible even if the amount of axial movement necessary for focusing differs depending on the state of zooming. That is, this method is such that when a predetermined movement locus for zooming is expressed with the angle of rotation of a rotatable lens barrel for prescribing the amount of movement of each lens unit in the direction of the optical axis thereof as a variable, all movement loci are set so that the amount of rotative movement for the focusing of the focusing lens unit on the movement locus for zooming may become equal to a predetermined object distance in any zoomed state.
The above-described method is a method of high realizability which enables the manual focusing when the amount of axial movement differs which has heretofore been regarded as impossible to be accomplished. However, when this method is generally applied to an actual optical system, the angle of rotation required for focusing becomes considerably small as compared with the angle of rotation required for zooming.
Also, in the structure of hardware, it is desirable that a plurality of cams corresponding to the movement locus of any movable lens unit be formed with the eccentricity and operability of the lens taken into account. Thus, the magnitude of the angle of rotation required for zooming is subjected to a predetermined limitation. Accordingly, where the angle of rotation required for focusing is considerably small as compared with the angle of rotation required for zooming, the angle of rotation for focusing in terms of the structure of hardware necessarily becomes considerably small.
In this case, when the angle of rotation for the focusing of the focusing lens unit and the angle of rotation of a distance ring coincide with each other, that is, when a rotating mechanism concerned in the focusing of the focusing lens unit and the distance ring are directly connected together, there arises the problem that the photographing distance to which the focusing lens unit is to be focused suddenly varies when the distance ring is rotated for focusing and thus, focusing becomes difficult.
Thus, in reality, because of the necessity of securing a great angle of rotation of the distance ring, there arises the necessity of enlarging the angle of rotation for the focusing of the focusing lens unit and transmitting it to the distance ring. However, a helicoid mechanism cannot be used when the angle of rotation is enlarged and therefore, it is necessary to newly provide a cam mechanism or a differential mechanism for enlargement. This gives rise to the factor of back-lash in terms of the structure of hardware and results in a reduction in focusing accuracy and the aggravation of operability.
Further, from the characteristic that focusing is accomplished by the focusing lens unit being moved on the locus along which it is moved during zooming, there is the disadvantage that the position of the imaging point varies, though in the depth of field, for any focal length and any photographing distance. Accordingly, by the addition of the enlarging mechanism, the amount of displacement of the position of the imaging point has been enlarged and has sometimes exceeded the depth of focus.
Also, from the characteristic that focusing is accomplished by the focusing lens unit being moved on the locus along which it is moved during zooming, there has been the problem that focusing becomes impossible when the movement locus is fixed relative to the image plane or in case of so-called U-turn locus. These have been problems also common to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 64-35515, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 64-35516.
From the above-noted points, it has been difficult to provide a zoom lens which is high in focusing accuracy and excellent in operability, and to realize such a zoom lens, an increase in cost has been unavoidable from the necessity of enhancing the accuracy of hardware.